Health Care for your Radio Station
Our country is in the midst of a volatile debate over health care. With the introduction of the meter, Radio’s actual TSL health has been exposed and it is not good.
Top of mind awareness did not disappear from Radio’s lexicon with Arbitron’s introduction of the meter. In fact, due to the smaller sample size it’s more important than ever.
During last week’s consultant fly-in at Arbitron, DMR’s Tripp Eldridge talked about “the moment of decision” – the time when a person decides what Radio station they’re going to listen to. Top of mind awareness of your Radio station in a positive way obviously effects that decision. And, according to Tripp, they make it on average 31 times a week.
Most of the same strategies and tactics we used and still use in the diary world work in the meter world. The difference is we now have a better idea which ones are most effective, and we can better hone our programming and marketing skills to affect additional listening.
But it goes a lot further than marketing tactics and programming tricks. You still must create a compelling product for your audience and, above all, you must have a thorough understanding of your core listener, your P-1s. This goes way past demographic, geographic and gender.
Starbucks executive Bill Black was also at the fly-in. He talked about the ongoing research they do to know their customer. Four percent of their customer base gives them 20% of their revenue. Another 17% give them 37% of their revenue. They have developed profiles of these groups and use those profiles in their marketing efforts as well as for product development.
Those percentages should sound familiar. For a long time we’ve known that a small number of our weekly cume, our P-1s, provided a large percentage of our TSL thus making them responsible for the majority of our share.
We now know cume in the meter world is not nearly as important as TSL, or as it is expressed in the new world order, average time exposed or ATE. The “drive by cume” isn’t meaningful to a station any more than being on in the background with no one listening is to an advertiser.
Getting to know as much as you can about your P-1s is the key. They still give you the bulk of your share. Even if the actual TSL isn’t what the reported TSL was.
Producing a compelling product is still the answer to long term, consistent success, and the care and maintenance of your P-1s. While we may be better able to track our marketing’s effect, it’s still nothing more than a drug. When it wears off, the patient has to make it on his own.
While I’m not a doctor, I can help you cure your Radio station, or put it on a program to get even healthier. Call or e-mail anytime.
Bob Glasco
bob@glascomedia.com
glascomedia.com
480-488-0903
